ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to describe the most important changes taking place in Soviet popular culture during the Mikhail Gorbachev era. In the music industry, for example, a 1983 edict demanded that 80 percent of the repertoire of Soviet rock groups be written by members of the Union of Composers. The regulation was rescinded, since Meloidya, the Soviet record company, and the concert booking agencies need to make a profit. Even more fascinating was an interview with three young fascists broadcast on the most popular program in the Soviet Union, the youth-oriented "Vzgliad." In contrast with the epic, the novel as a genre is filled with doubts and unanswered questions, and so is more suited to the demands of contemporary Soviet readers. The most radical transformation taking place in Soviet art is occurring in literature and the literary journals.
